@msf
I wanted to share this article regarding the use of direct indexing investing (author uses a Fidelity product) for the purpose of tax loss harvesting to manage losses and unrealized gains to manage LT capital gains taxes.
articles/direct-indexing-allan-roth

Latest from Bowly (stockcharts.com/articles/tradingplaces/2025/01/whats-the-secret-to-crushing-t-702.html).
Quote

"Don't bet against a secular bull market advance!" We're all trained, or brainwashed, if you will, to believe that the next major stock market top is at hand or just around the corner. It completely immobilizes us when it comes to having belief in the major advance at hand. Give us a bit of selling and we'll quickly point out the likely recession and swift stock market drop ahead. Two weeks ago, reigniting inflation was a major concern and the S&P 500 was 5% off its high. Today, we're in all-time high territory after the ACTUAL inflation data said that inflation is NOT a problem. Or we can just be blindfolded and keep tuning into the circus that is CNBC.
Drown out the noise and all the bearish rhetoric, and instead focus on one of my favorite charts. This is a 100-year monthly chart of the S&P 500:....
The next time you think, "is this the start of the next secular bear market?", I want you to remember one thing. There have been TWO starts to secular bear markets in my entire lifetime - the early 1970s and the turn of the century as the dot com bubble popped. That's it. Just stop trying to call the 3rd one. There have only been 14 cyclical bear markets since 1950, which means that, on average, we see only one of these lesser bear markets every 5-6 years. Since 2018, we've had 3 of them (2018, 2020, 2022). That's waaaaay more than our fair share. Let the bulls do their thing.
If you look back above to the 100-year chart, you'll see that the S&P 500's monthly PPO is accelerating to the upside, telling us that long-term bullish momentum just keeps building. Bear markets don't begin until that monthly PPO moves into negative territory.

Let's play a game. The only way I declare Marks a winner is if 2 things happen in 2025. The SP500 must lose more than 20% + it's down for the year.
If we are in a bubble, it should be an easy test.

I bought a few shares of ProShares UltraPro S&P500 UPRO in 2020. 3X leverage on SP500. Shouldn’t hold for long term, but somehow still a triple today.
2024 64%
2023 69%
2022 -57%
2021 99%
2020 10%

This episode is very informative on Giroux’s in-depth stock selection for PRWCX. A 5-year investment horizon is certainly more than most active managers. Wish he would talked a bit o the bond sleeve.
Here is what I found through T. Rowe Price site on the newly launched TRP Capital Appreciation & Income. A bit more information on the breakdown of different bond sectors the fund is invested.

Within the Capital Appreciation and Income Fund’s fixed income allocation, we hold a healthy mix of U.S. Treasuries, high-quality BB and BBB bonds,5 and bank loans. Looking at the current environment, we think BB and high‑quality bank loans create a compelling opportunity to generate equity-like returns while taking on less risk than the broader equity market.

https://troweprice.com/personal-investing/resources/insights/bringing-a-tested-investment-process-to-a-new-wider-market.html

I am apart of a small group of people I got my business degree with. We largely talk investing and there was a big ARKK proponent in the crowd so to speak. So much so I got in May 2020 but got out mid 2021 when I wanted to move stuff around and largely because she was on CNBC all the time, had become basically a rockstar as you've all mentioned. I didn't like it. something felt off. timing worked well for me and it was in a play account, not in any long term accounts.
There is a basically now famous thread in the bogleheads forum where a user could not understand the disdain the site had for ARKK and was preparing to dump his entire retirement in it. the post was made literally a day after ARKK's historical high. still down 60% from that time period.
this fund went from taking in 40 million in fees prior to 2020 to almost 200 million in fees. incredible.

Two summary prospectuses filings as of today:
Hedged Equity ETF
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1795351/000174177325000059/c497k.htm
Capital Appreciation Premium Income ETF
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1795351/000174177325000060/c497k.htm

In the IRA: Seemed like a good day to sell micro positions in ICLN and GGSYX for micro losses. I just don't see any reason to expect a turn around any time soon given their global exposure.
I continue to hold GRID and its micro gains. Given its foreign exposure, we shall see how it does in the threatened tariff environment. I also hold it in my taxable, and will continue to hold it there since I feel no need to "simplify" it.
Actual MM cash was at 8%, and most of that has gone into FLOT. There is still a little bit of cash for opportunistic buying should Mr. Market take a flash stumble. I am not predicting such an event or I would have left more in cash.

I've read you want to hold ETF's in taxable accounts since they are more tax efficient. They pay less capital gains than OEF. They usually have lower ER's also.

Sold TRP for a 33% gain overnight. Will buy it back once the nonsense between Orangina and Canada over tarrifs gets worked out. (Also why I'm holding off buying PAGP since they've got large cross-border exposure.)
Planning to buy MPLX at some point if it comes down, but have order for AMLP instead.
Bought back into TDS-V for QDI. May buy back into SR-A as well.
Placed a lowball spec order for some shares in a levered SPX bear ETF (I'll probably need the capital loss at some point if history turns out as it usually does for me with these things.)
Also eyeballing some other stuff, but no orders placed yet.

what are the advantages of converting OEFs to their ETFs? Tax? Lower expense ratio?
Can Vanguard do the conversion by themselves online or this can only be done with Vanguard agents?
Thank you

The cynic in me says that the advantage is marketing. As Yogi observed, ETFs are hot.
From the investor perspective, ETFs can be more tax efficient. Though Vanguard is different:
- the ETFs are just share classes of their OEFs, so all share classes have the same tax efficiency
- broad based index Vanguard funds haven't made cap gains distributions in decades
Costs tend to be a little lower with ETFs, due in part to the authorized participants doing the actual trading of underlying securities. Also, when APs buy and sell shares directly with the ETF (not on exchanges) the transactions are in large blocks (creation units). That lowers costs. And the AP may be required to pay a fee for trading creation units.
I think your other question is whether Vanguard customers can do the exchange online themselves. I believe the answer is yes, but I haven't checked recently. Even if you can do it yourself, be careful to check all the right boxes so that it isn't treated as a sell-and-buy.

Even with careful instructions to the broker, if the fund sponsor doesn't approve, you may not be able to do a tax-free exchange from one share class to another of the same fund.
I ran into this with a Blackrock fund. I had service class shares. Then Fidelity made the A shares NTF (load waived, no fee). Those shares had a slightly lower ER. I asked Fidelity to do a non-taxable exchange.
Fidelity checked with Blackrock and told me that Blackrock would not permit that. I would have to sell and buy (and recognize gain on the sale).
When an OEF converts to ETF, that can be tax-free in most cases.
Typically, restructurings are nontaxable events. When PIMCO converted its D class shares into A class shares, that was a nontaxable event.
https://riaconnection.axosadvisorservices.com/uploads/6/5/8/0/65802149/2018.03.23_pimco_share_class_conversion_d_to_a.pdf
More notoriously, Vanguard did a tax-free merger of its institutional and retail target date funds (different funds, not different share classes) after making changes (changing ERs) that triggered huge cap gains distributions.
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2022/04/ny-times-holders-of-vanguard-target-funds-file-class-action-over-massive-capital-gain-tax-bills.html

Vanguard could have first merged the funds, then lowered the fees, the suit says. If the process had proceeded in that order, the lawyers argued, there would have been no flood of fund sales and no tax shock for retail investors.

Some tidy trading gains there @davidmoran.
Looking forward to how the market digests our new economic policies after Jan 20th.

S&P Returns by Year
2024 +25.02%.
2023 +26.29%.
2022 -18.11%. (neg)
2021 +28.71%.
2020 +18.40%.
2019 +31.49%.
2018 -4.38%. (neg)
2017 +21.83%.
2016 +11.96%.
2015 +1.38%.
”If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck …..”
Source of data
I like to look at some of TRP’s funds’ performance for insights because I know several pretty well from once residing there. Not a recommendation - but there might be some opportunity for long term investors in real assets (PRAFX at TRP) and in real estate (TRREX at TRP). I base this solely on the observation that they’ve fallen quite a bit from their 5 year highs. In a bit of a trough currently. No guarantees. I have very limited exposure to those two areas, Own neither of the funds mentioned.

As Yogi mentioned in his earlier post, it's a common practice of internet banks to draw money in with high rates, then lower the rates on those accounts while creating yet another new high rate account type. Capital One did this with its 360 Savings (old) and 360 Performance Savings (new). Several other banks have done this as well.
As much of a fan as I am of CFPB, its press release (as reported by Yahoo) is somewhat misleading. It compares the two Capital One accounts, but not over the same time periods.

The CFPB said Capital One lowered and froze its 360 Savings account’s APY to 0.30 percent from late 2019 to mid-2024, while it increased the new 360 Performance Savings account’s APY from 0.40 percent to 4.25 percent between April 2022 and January 2024.

Performance Savings always had higher rates, granted. However, the CFPB omits the fact that Capital One lowered the interest rate on Performance Savings account between late 2019 and autumn 2020, just as it did with the older Savings account rate. By late summer 2020 the rate difference between the two accounts had closed to 10 basis points. The lowering of rates was not an issue, regardless of the CFPB statement.
What were issues were the rate difference between the two account types (at all times) and the freezing of one account's rate while the other's was raised.
From friend's statements and depositaccounts.com chart here):

Month	360 Savings	360 Performance Savings
9/2019	  1.00%			1.90%
10/2019	  0.80%			1.90%
12/2019	  0.60%			1.80%
3/2020	  0.50%			1.50%
5/2020	  0.50%			1.30%
6/2020	  0.50%			1.00%
8/2020	  0.50%			0.65%
9/2020	  0.40%			0.50%
12/2020	  0.30%			0.40%
4/2022	  0.30%			0.60%  (and up from here)

I was taking RMD on Jan 2 or 3. But in 2020, the pandemic year, the RMDs were waived - first for those who took it after February or March, and finally for all around mid-2020. So, I was kicking myself for 5-6 months in 2020 for taking RMDs too early. Now I take them in mid/late-year.

Different strokes for different folks.
We plan on making QCDs when we're finally subject to RMDs. So had we been subject to RMDs by 2020, we would not have been very upset at having taken a distribution that wasn't required. The money would have gone to some good causes (at least we think so).
We make partial Roth conversions annually. Since those are generally best done early in the year, and since they cannot be done prior to taking RMDs, we plan on taking RMDs (for QCDs) early each year.
In 2009, RMDs were also waived. But this was announced at the end of 2008. So there was no confusion about what to do with 2009 RMDs already taken. Only two waivers in 50 years (RMDs started in 1974 with ERISA), and only one of those without advance warning. Those are pretty good odds of it not happening again in our lifetimes.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1593547/000139834425000661/fp0091875-1_497.htm
THE ADVISORS’ INNER CIRCLE FUND III
(the “Trust”)
Legal & General Commodity Strategy Fund
(the “Fund”)
Supplement dated January 14, 2025 to the Fund’s Prospectus (the “Prospectus”) and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), each dated March 1, 2024, as supplemented
This supplement provides new and additional information beyond that contained in the Prospectus and SAI, and should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus and SAI.
The Board of Trustees of the Trust, at the recommendation of Legal & General Investment Management America, Inc. (the “Adviser”), the investment adviser of the Fund, has approved a plan of liquidation providing for the liquidation of the Fund’s assets and the distribution of the net proceeds pro rata to the Fund’s shareholders. In connection therewith, the Fund is closed to investments from new and existing shareholders effective immediately. The Fund is expected to cease operations and liquidate on or about February 14, 2025 (the “Liquidation Date”). The Liquidation Date may be changed without notice at the discretion of the Trust’s officers.
Prior to the Liquidation Date, shareholders may redeem (sell) their shares in the manner described in the “Purchasing and Selling Fund Shares – How to Sell Your Fund Shares” section of the Prospectus. For those Fund shareholders that do not redeem (sell) their shares prior to the Liquidation Date, the Fund will distribute to each such shareholder, on or promptly after the Liquidation Date, a liquidating cash distribution equal in value to the shareholder’s interest in the net assets of the Fund as of the Liquidation Date.
In anticipation of the liquidation of the Fund, the Adviser may manage the Fund in a manner intended to facilitate the Fund’s orderly liquidation, such as by holding cash or making investments in other highly liquid assets. As a result, during this time, all or a portion of the Fund may not be invested in a manner consistent with its stated investment strategies, which may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective.
The liquidation distribution amount will include any accrued income and capital gains, will be treated as a payment in exchange for shares and will generally be a taxable event for shareholders investing through taxable accounts. You should consult your personal tax advisor concerning your particular tax situation. Shareholders remaining in the Fund on the Liquidation Date will not be charged any transaction fees by the Fund. However, the net asset value of the Fund on the Liquidation Date will reflect costs of liquidating the Fund. Shareholders will receive liquidation proceeds as soon as practicable after the Liquidation Date.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.
LGI-SK-001-0003

another value fund bites it.
kooky (usually not in a good way) founder went through a bunch of solid analysts in its history.
now taking private money for microcap buyouts\control. accredited investor beware.
http://covestreetfunds.com/

I was taking RMD on Jan 2 or 3. But in 2020, the pandemic year, the RMDs were waived - first for those who took it after February or March, and finally for all around mid-2020. So, I was kicking myself for 5-6 months in 2020 for taking RMDs too early. Now I take them in mid/late-year.

@Derf, those would be well out of +/- 30 day wash sale window.
I no longer take RMDs early after I got burned in 2020.

Good that the regulators caught up with Capital One/COF. I posted about this problem a while ago.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/159297/#Comment_159297
Barron's doesn't think that it would hurt COF & DFS merger.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/capital-one-stock-cfpb-lawsuit-1041890d